My review of the Plantronics Voyager 855 has been long due. This little guy was my first excursion into Bluetooth stereo headsets, and so far has been my best. You can get it reasonably cheaply, it's dependable, and it works. It's not perfect, but for the price, it's not bad.
Specs/Info
- Cost: Variable. $40-$120 depending on where purchased ($40 is usually refurb)
- Talk/Music time: 7 hours
- Charge time: 2 hours
- Standby Time: 7 days
First Impressions/Pairing
My first impressions of this headset were good. It came with an AC charger, the headset, and instructions. The fit wasn't perfect, but it does stay on securely. I find that I need to adjust it a bit during the day as it slips out of my ear or moves on me because of the cable for the other earpiece dragging at my collar, but it isn't excessive. The earpiece loop is the connector for the earbud and the headset can either be used stereo, or the ear loop can be removed for mono use. Although you may initially mock the use of mono, don't forget that most people aren't aware that you can listen to music through bluetooth, so you may be able to get away with listening to music in mono mode in some environments that may frown on music headsets. Pairing works very well. Although sometimes the Pre can be tempermental about pairing with devices every time, the headset beeps when it is paired and working, which removes some of the guesswork.
Controls
This is probably the big weak spot for this headset. When answering the phone, the button on the side has to be pressed firmly, which can be a little uncomfortable as it drives the earpiece deeper into your ear (I have sensitive ears). The volume/FF/RW buttons are small and difficult to remember which button does which, and can be difficult to press for people with fat fingers. I didn't have much trouble pressing the buttons, but I did have trouble remembering which one was volume up/FF and which was volume down/RW. The volume buttons become the FF/RW when double clicked and they aren't marked. Those didn't bother me nearly as much as not being able to start my music from the headset. The button to stop music works great, but there isn't any way to resume your music from the headset. I always need to press the play on the phone to resume my music - a feat which is much easier now that the music player can be started while the phone is locked, but still annoying when I have my phone buried in a pocket when I'm out in the winter snow.
Call/Music quality
The call quality is average for the most part. Although most of the time people can't tell I'm on a headset, sometimes it is blatently obvious and the person on the other end has trouble hearing me. The headset has a sliding boom type mic that answers the phone when extended, and the quality is a little better when extended, but sometimes even this isn't enough. Most of the time it works fine however. Music quality is much better however. With the headset being basically earbuds, it blocks outside noises nicely allowing lower volumes of music in noisier environments. The music quality is about as good as you'll find in a bluetooth headset, although it's nothing super spectacular.
Misc.
Although the battery life is supposed to be 7 hours, I found I don't quite get that. With medium usage, I can usually make it to the end of the business day, but in the evening I need to swap out to another headset and let it charge. Light to medium users may make it through the day. It does well with standby and it will last for days when not being used a lot. The headset is fairly comfortable despite not being as perfect a fit as I would like. I often remove the left earpiece and let it dangle from my neck when I need to talk to people. It isn't very noticable and most people don't realize it's a stereo headset. The balance isn't perfect, but overall for a headset I paid about $50 for, I think it is well worth the money. It is one of the less expensive stereo bluetooth headsets.
The Good
- Good sound quality
- Comfortable
- Decent battery life
- Reliable
- MicroUSB charger (same as the Pre)
- Can remove earpiece for mono use
The Bad
- Some buttons are small and hard to press
- Battery may not last through the day for medium to heavier users
- Unable to start music from headset
- Doesn't always stay seated in ear for all people.
My rating:
7/10
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